Deocrating for Independance Day. Part One

I like to start decorating for July 4th sometime in mid to late June. This allows time to get everything up and enjoy it before it has to come down again.  I am going to take the next week or so to share some of these ideas.

Remember those DIY apothecary jars that I made? (click here for tutorial)
Changing out the contents for different holidays and seasons is a simple way to make your home festive.  I purchased most of these materials at the Dollar Tree.  The first jar is layered color confetti paper in red, white, and blue. The second jar is open top and has red, blue, and silver star garland and has two flags that I picked up at WalMart for about a dollar each. The last jar is another red and blue garland strand.
It is really simple and cheap but is fun and festive.

Up next will be a banner to span across the opening of the doorway!

Mamaw Mae's Rice and Tomatoes

Tonight as I was chopping an onion to prepare supper, I started crying. As much as I would like to blame the onion, it was innocent of any offense. I was crying because I was making a recipe my Mamaw Mae used to make. Even though she has been on the other side of the veil since 1993, I still think about her often and miss her very much. She influenced my life in many ways and I am eternally grateful for her love.  

In remembrance of my Mamaw, I want to share a recipe that she used to make often. It has always been one of my favorites. It is really cheap to make, as were most recipes that orginated during harder times.

 

Rice and Tomatoes

You will need:
2 cups slightly undercooked white rice
1 large onion, chopped
a tiny bit of cooking oil of your choice
1 quart of HOME CANNED TOMATOES (if you are completely desperate you can use store bought. It won't taste near as good though.)
salt and pepper to taste


Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet and saute the onion until done.
Add in your canned tomatoes AND the juice.
Liberally salt the tomatoes and add a good amount of black pepper. The amount of salt will depend on whether you use home canned tomatoes that were packed without salt or nasty store bought canned tomatoes that bring shame to your Mamaws that came before you.
Let this simmer for about 15 minutes while you cook your rice in a separate pot.
Stir the slightly undercooked rice into the onion and tomato mixture in your skillet.
Let it all simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed and it looks about right.

You can serve this as a side dish with just about anything or let it stand on its own as a meatless, frugal dinner.

I hope you give this recipe a try. It is absolutely delicious and reminds me of simpler times spent in the kitchen with my best friend, Mamaw Mae.

Fun With Vinyl

I have been having so much fun since I jumped into the world of vinyl cutting on my Silhouette.

I made this beauty for my mother in law for Mother's Day:

I was surprised by how many people asked if I could make them a sign. I sat down and calculated the cost of all the materials and supplies and finally settled on a price. I am excited that I might actually get to sell some of these!

Then tonight I decided to try my hand at personalizing water bottles for some of our nieces.

I used the font Cutie Pop for the purple and pink bottle and the font Handwriting for the blue bottle. All the images are from the Silhouette store. I found the bottles at Hobby Lobby.  I am really anxious to see how well these hold up. If they do well then I will be making more, possibly to sell (with different graphics and fonts).

I am just so excited about all the possibilities of things I can do with vinyl. :)

Another finished project: Our Photo Wall

After being married for 6 months, I finally put our wedding pictures on the wall! Our photographer did such a wonderful job taking and editing the photos and I wanted to do them justice by displaying them nicely. This is what I finally decided on:

 

The view headed down the hall from our main areas to the bedrooms.

 

Close up view of The Family Proclamation

I have wanted some sort of personalized frame to display The Family: A Proclamation to the World for a while. I found this awesome, wide frame at Michael's on sale for less than $10! I ordered the proclamation from the Church website for only 50 cents in an 11 by 17. I framed it and then added Bradley Family and our wedding date in viny cut on my Silhouette. I love this personal touch that shows that we claim the Proclamation on the Family as truth and apply the teachings to our family!


I bought this frame set during Black Friday sale at Walmart for around $6. I chose to put wedding pictures of us and our families in the frames. One of the frames was for a 5x7. I didn't have that size picture printed so I decided to put our initial there instead. I had some matting paper in 5x7 and I cut a B on cardstock using my Silhouette. I just glued it to the mat and used it in the space. Love it!

 

Final view of the whole thing as seen from the hallway looking toward the living room.

 

My first Glogster and feedback needed!

I had to create a Glogster for an assignment in my Educational Technology class. We could select any topic that we wanted. Since I did a booth at a preparedness night at church on food dehydration I thought I would make my Glogster on that. I need feedback from peers for my written reflection on the assignment so please take a look and share any feedback below in the comments section! Thanks!

TBT. Nothing but ball ya'll.

I am going to jump on the Throwback Thursday bandwagon. 

I started playing baseball when I was 5. My Nonny was a feminist who thought that a girl could do anything a boy could do. And since we didn't have a girl's softball league in White Hall yet, she signed me up for baseball. There were only 2 or 3 girls in the whole league. I was bullied horribly, but I learned to play ball. I played in the boys league for 2 years before I was old enough for the girl's softball league. I was ahead of the game (pun intended) because the other girls hadn't played. I really loved playing sports and played in baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball leagues. My Nonny wasn't okay with me playing football, but I probably would have if she had let me. I wasn't a tom boy though! I love cooking with my grandmother and wearing dresses and having pig tails. I just really loved sports!  I plan to strongly encourage my kids to be involved in sports!
So today's TBT:

Me at age 5. I was serious about ball. :)

Never too old for an Easter basket

My sweet husband is going to be out of town working this weekend and won't be home for Easter. This necessitated rearranging some plans, including giving his Easter basket early. I firmly believe that my good, hard working husband needs to be shown how much I appreciate him. One of the little ways that I do this is by taking the time to make him something special.
So here is Jason's 2013 (early) Easter basket:

 

 

I added some of his favorite things: eclipse chewing gum, Butter finger eggs, beef jerky, cheese dipping snacks, Reese's Eggs, different kinds of snack crackers, bread sticks, Jolly Ranchers, suckers, a new Iphone case, Iphone screen protectors, playing cards, and a little stick anywhere basketball hoop. Oh, and a rubber duck dressed as a super hero. Since he spends so much time on the road, I wanted him to have lots of snacks in his basket so he knows that I support him while he supports our family. It doesn't cost a fortune to make your husband a basket for Easter. Go for it! The big kid in him will appreciate your effort. :)